Nvidia RTX 5080 24 GB reportedly canceled in China due to soaring GDDR7 costs

Nvidia's rumored GeForce RTX 5080 24 GB has reportedly been shelved in China, with the company said to have abandoned its planned January 2027 launch. A post on Chinese hardware forum Board Channels, reproduced by Japanese outlet Gazlog, claims Nvidia has notified its add-in board (AIB) partners of the decision without providing a revised release window.

The post attributes the cancellation to the high cost of 3 GB GDDR7 memory modules. These reportedly cost around three times as much as the 2 GB modules used in the existing RTX 5080, making the 24 GB configuration difficult to sell at a reasonable price. Nvidia will supposedly continue purchasing 2 GB GDDR7 modules and retain the RTX 5080 16 GB as its highest-end GeForce offering in China.

Interestingly, this represents a sharp reversal from Board Channels' earlier claims. In late October, the outlet suggested Nvidia was accelerating the RTX 5080 24 GB's launch to December 2026 or January 2027, while simultaneously winding down production of the 16 GB variant.

Either way, the RTX 5080 24 GB remains in flux for now, and its 16 GB variant could very well be the most powerful Nvidia GPU you can buy now. The RTX 5090 is well beyond the reach of most gamers, although there is a minuscule chance you could snag one via one of Nvidia's giveaways.